Why movements need to learn to fly like bees and thread like spiders

Why movements need to learn to fly like bees and thread like spiders
“It is, after all, the quality of stitching that gathers the whole.”

This current moment, with all its challenges in the United States, feels like familiar territory. Over my four decades of work in international peacebuilding — especially accompanying local communities seeking to end cycles of armed violence while building dignity and justice in a context of historic protracted conflict — rarely did I see a singular movement take shape. The challenge always sits with how unlikely alliances and improbable partners thread together coordinated action.

Lederach, John Paul. “Why Movements Need to Learn to Fly like Bees and Thread like Spiders.” Waging Nonviolence (blog), July 1, 2025.

Shared with the permission of Waging Nonviolence.

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